Sports Chowdah Update for October 30, 2011- 11th Title in the Cards for St. Louis; If You Sell It, They Will Come? Pats Get Steel Toed Boot

Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images

WORLD SERIES: It seemed to have that air of inevitability around it almost as soon as David Freese's bat made contact with the ball in the bottom of the 9th of Game 6 with 2 outs and a 1-2 count.

Despite Texas getting out to the early 2-0 lead in the top of the first, the Cardinals- unsurprisingly and inevitably- came back to tie the game up in the bottom half of the 1st frame on a 2 out, 2 RBI double from none other than David Freese.

Cards outfielder Allen Craig put St Louis up for good with a solo homer in the bottom of the 3rd. In the 5th, the Cardinals would get some insurance when catcher Yadier Molina drew a 2 out bases-loaded walk, followed up by Rafael Furcal getting hit by a pitch with the bags STILL loaded to make it a 5-2 game.

Although Texas would get the occasional leadoff runner on, the 2 runs they got in the first inning would be it, and Molina would get another RBI- this time in the form of a single that plated Berkman- to put St Louis up by 6-2. Jason Motte, who put the 2 Rangers baserunners on in Game 2 that ultimately cost St Louis the game, came on for a one two three top of the 9th to seal the Cards 6-2 win and the World Series.

Chris Carpenter went 6 complete innings for the win for St Louis while Matt Harrison was hung with the loss for the Rangers. Molina went 2-3 with 2 RBIs for the Cards while local hero David Freese went 1-2 wirh 2 RBIs and 2 walks. Thanks in large part to his role in both Game 6 and Game 7, Freese was named the 2011 World Series MVP.

Game 6 was such a difficult act to follow- even though I knew better, I was a little disappointed that Game 7 didn't end in a similar manner. I remember the last time the Cards were in the World Series (2006), all the East Coast sports figures and yammering heads on ESPN were bemoaning that it would be an all-Midwest World Series, thus boring.

Unfortunately Detroit proved them correct by basically air-mailing a bunch of pivotal innings away. I haven't been watching or listening to alot of the 'personalities' on ESPN, but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were saying the exact same things five years later.

As a Red Sox fan, I'm not particularly passionate about either one of the teams in the 2011 World Series [lest anybody forget, Red Sox Nation had their day against St. Louis 7 years ago- NANESB!] but the quality of the games was something to behold- well, most of the games at least.

It seemed as though I found myself asking 'What can they do to one-up this?' every time I was watching or listening. Even in the one true blowout, viewers got to see Albert Pujols put himself in some very distinct company. Texas kept themselves in it with some small ball in Game 2 and a heroic outing by Derek Holland in Game 4 as well as Napoli's bat in Game 5.

But all that was left in the dust once Game 6 wrapped up.

Congratulations to the 2011 World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals and congratulations to both teams for treating us to some very exciting October baseball.

OTHER BASEBALL NEWS: The family farm complete with a baseball diamond hewn from a cornfield in Dyersville, IA that was used for filming the 1989 film Field of Dreams will be sold.

The land, which has been in the Lansing family since 1906, had been on the market since May 2010 with an asking price of $5.4 million. The parcel includes the baseball diamond, a two bedroom farmhouse, a half dozen other buildings and 193 acres- primarily cornfields.

The Lansing family said they were committed to finding a purchaser that would maintain the legacy of the site. Although the exact amount wasn't disclosed, the northeastern Iowa farm and baseball diamond will be sold to Go the Distance Baseball LLC, operated by Mike and Denise Stillman.

The property is about 20 miles west of Dubuque, IA and has been open to visitors during the summer months for the past 20 years.

Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

NFL: Damn- is it too late for me to blame the porn starlet that Gronkowski (allegedly) hooked up with?

I can't even say New England came out of the bye week looking rusty, because it was hard to make an informed statement on how the looked with Pittsburgh dominating time of possession. The Steeler had the ball for just under 40 minutes while New England had possession for just over 20- not really a winning formula.

Even with that disparity in time of possession, the Patriots headed to the locker room at halftime trailing by 17-10 thanks to a 46 yard Gostowski FG with 29 seconds remaining in the half.

While the Pats would keep Pittsburgh out of the end zone for the 2nd half, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger would manage to move the ball fairly effectively while eating up the clock and the Steelers were still able to come away with FGs on two trips inside the red zone.

After being stymied for much of the game, Brady would drive New England down to the Pittsburgh red zone where he would connect with Rob Gronkowski, where no doubt driven to distraction thanks to his tryst with Bibi Jones [just kidding...jeez], he was stopped just shy of the goal line. Now while he had possession of the ball and both feet appeared to be in the end zone, Gronkowski was ruled down inside the 1 yard line with 4:15 to go in regulation.

With all three time outs remaining, instead of throwing out the challenge flag, Belichick decided to punch it in from there on 3rd and 1. Kevin Faulk was knocked back for no gain, and while New England got a fresh set of downs on 4th and 1 after a Pittsburgh holding penalty, precious time was burning off the clock. Although Brady would complete a pass to Aaron Hernandez in the end zone, there was all of 2:38 remaining on the clock.

Even if The Patriots had demonstrated an ability to hold Roethlisberger and the Steeler offense to a 3 & out, that rosy scenario STILL would've left the Patriots with precious little time. Also worth noting that the last time the Patriots had a successful onside kick was 1994- and after today, the last time the Patriots had a successful onside kick was....1994.

As it turns out, the Steelers got a first down, bleeding off precious seconds from the clock and forcing New England to use up their time outs. New England did manage to sack Roethlisberger twice before the Steelers had to punt from mid-field, but that was a day late and a dollar short.

The Patriots got the ball back on their own 22 with all of 8 seconds left in regulation, only to have Steelers DE Brett Keisel strip the ball from Tom Brady and batted into the end zone by shaggy Safety Troy Polamalu for the safety.

Pittsburgh wins this one by a 25-17 final. Brady went 24-35 with 198 yards and two TDs while Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger would go 36-50 with 365 yards with 2 TDs and an interception. New England's offense was held to just 213 yards altogether on the day.

This sets up a showdown with the NFC east leading New York Giants next week at Foxborough. The Giants are coming off come-from-behind victory against the winless Miami Dolphins at the Meadowlands on Sunday.

NBA: With no deal in sight between the player's association and the owners, the league has cancelled two more weeks worth of regular season games, leaving most of November with no scheduled regular season NBA contests.

NHL: OK....so a couple of weeks in and its becoming apparent that the Bruins need to come up with something else aside from pointing out that they won the Stanley Cup and hoping their opponents are sufficiently dazzled.

So far, the Canadiens have shown themselves to be underwhelmed. Saturday night was the away half of a home-and-away series against Montreal. Les Habs got off the the quick start in the 1st with goals from Brian Gionta and Lars Eller for the early 2-0 lead. Dave Desharnais would make it a 3-0 lead in the 2nd period on a power play goal before the Bruins got on the board thanks to a Milan Lucic tally.

About 55 seconds into the 3rd period, Boston would make it a 1-goa game thanks to an even strength Tyler Seguin goal, but late in the 3rd, when the Bruins pulled Rask for the extra attacker, Tomas Plekanec managed to get the empty-netter for the 4-2 win.

The Bruins will head back to the TD Banknorth Garden on Tuesday to take on the scalding-hot Ottawa Senators, who have won their last 6 consecutive games. Puck drops at 7PM ET.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Understandably lost in a couple of great games Saturday night was the fact that the struggling BC Eagles had managed to notch their first win against a non FCS team this season- not only that, but an ACC opponent!

The Eagles came into a snowy College Park, MD to take on a marginally better Maryland Terrapins. Eagles RB Rolandan Finch drew first blood as Boston College managed to score on their opening drive to take the early 7-0 lead.

The Terps would reply with a FG to get on the board just inside the 10 minute mark. Boston College would take a 21-3 lead to halftime, and although the Terps would get on the board once again in the second half, it would turn out to be not nearly enough.

Boston College goes on to win by a 28-17 final and Finch gets 39 carries for 243 yards and 2 TDs in his productive afternoon. The Eagles are getting ready to host the Florida State Seminoles on Thursday night at 8 PM.

BIG EAST: Earlier this week, in leiu of being treated to World Series Game in St Louis, those of you inclinced to watch some college football were treated to the UConn Huskies getting stomped by Pitt by a 35-20 final after getting picked apart by Junior QB Tino Sunseri. UConn was held to a field goal for the first half, trailing 21-3 at halftime. The Huskies did manage a couple of big plays in the 2nd half, but it wasn't nearly enough.

OTHER BIG EAST NEWS: West Virginia made it official this weekend that they would be leaving the Big East conference for the Big 12, likely replacing the Missouri Tigers who are finalizing plans to join the SEC.

Like Syracuse and Pittsburgh (who announced their plans to join the ACC), Big East plans on retaining the Mountaineers until 2014.

Joe Mahoney/ Richmond Times-Dispatch

COLONIAL: UMass rebounded from their loss at Foxbourough's Colonial Clash versus New Hampshire last week with a very convincing win over the Richmond Spiders in the Old Dominion State by a 28-7 final. Three of those TDs against Richmond came in the 1st quarter and three out of the 4 were from RB Jonathan Hernandez, who had 3 of the UMass TD's on the day and 103 rushing yards.

The Minutemen will next play host to Villanova this coming Saturday.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: In case you missed it, some of the late games Saturday night actually lived up to the hype.

Granted it wasn't as time expired like last week against Michigan State, but the Wisconsin Badgers had their hearts ripped out for the second week in a row with less than a minute left on the clock. Trailing 14-26 late in the 4th quarter, the Badgers came back to score two TD's and take a 26-29 lead on a successful two point conversion.

The Buckeyes had gotten the ball as far as mid-field when Ohio State QB Braxton miller heaved a 40 yard pass with 43 seconds left in regulation. The pass looked a little wobbly, but somehow managed to find freshman Ohio State WR Devin Smith in the end zone for the TD and the 32-29 lead with less than 45 seconds to go.

That would be the final, as the Badgers couldn't score with their final possession.

Meanwhile, out west, the Stanford Cardinals needed triple OT to get past the USC Trojans. Stanford had already scored and successfully pulled off the 2 point conversion in their half the the third OT when USC got the ball back. However, on the Trojan's first possession, RB Curtis MacNeal fumbled and Stanford recovered, giving them the 56-48 win.

10 Cardinals, 9 Rangers

Wow, this is probably the best World Series I have seen since 2003. Everything is exciting and intense. All of the games have been pretty exciting and shame on any "baseball fan" that hasn't followed it.

Last night's game started off awfully, the Cardinals made 3 errors in 3 innings and the Rangers had a 7 to 5 lead going into the 9th. Until David Freese played hero the first time, Albert Pujols was on second on a double and Lance Berkman was on first on a walk and Freese hit an opposite field double over Nelson Cruz's head. (Although it looked awkward, Cruz couldn't have got that).

In the top of the 10th the Rangers scored immediately off of Jason Motte when Josh Hamilton hit a 2 run blast and it looked again as if the Rangers had this one wrapped up. However, the fighting Cardinals had a never say die attitude and when Ron Washington threw in 18 year veteran Darren Oliver in, you knew something was going to go bad, he let up one run and then Reliever Scott Feldman let up the tying run to Lance Berkman who has had an unbelievable series. This knotted the game up at 9.

In the top of the 11th Jake Westbrook let up a hit, but no other damage was done. In the bottom of the 11th, the Rangers turned the ball to Mark Lowe who immediately let up a walk off home run to returning hero David Freese.

I'm rooting for Texas still, but this has been a hell of a series and I'm glad there is a game 7.

Squirrely Sports Chowdah Update For Oct 27th: Angry Birds- Cardinals Storm Back To Tie World Series on Final Out; The Tight End and the Tight End

WORLD SERIES: Without much in the way of exaggeration or hyperbole, this was one for the ages.

Postponed by rain on Wednesday night, Game 6 of the 2011 World Series got underway in St Louis 24 hours later and with the Cardinals in a must win scenario, often times trailing the Texas Rangers.

Texas got out to the early 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st thanks to a leadoff walk to Ian Kinsler and a single to Elvis Andrus before Josh Hamilton drove home Kinsler with an RBI double.

Tha Cardinals would take the lead in the bottom of the 1st with a 2-run Lance Berkman homer, but the Rangers would knot things up in the next frame thanks to an RBI Kinsler ground-rule double, leaving the game tied at 2-2 for a little while at least. Well- until the top of the 4th inning, which is when Nelson Cruz reached 2nd on an error before being driven home on a Mike Napoli RBI single. However, in the bottom half of the 4th frame, Lance Berkman would reach on an error and become the tying run on a Yadier Molina groundout.

The sloppy play and back and forth would continue for quite a bit, with Texas finally taking what seemed like a commanding 7-4 lead in the top of the 7th inning thanks to solo homers by Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz as well as a Kinsler RBI single for good measure.



After a solo homer by Allen Craig in the bottom of the 8th, the Cardinals managed to load the bases before Rafael Furcal grounded out to end the inning, leaving it still a 7-5 game. After a fairly uneventful top of the 9th where the Rangers didn't score, Albert Pujols hit a 1-out double to center before Lance Berkman was walked. Allen Craig then struck out and when David Freese stepped into the batter's box, the Cards were down to their last out- their last strike, even- in the World Series when he managed to send the ball all the way to the outfield wall to bring in Pujols and Berkman to tie the game up at 7-7.

Texas would strike right back with a 2-run Josh Hamilton homer in the top of the 10th, but the persistent Cards would come back in the bottom of the 10th after moving runners into scoring position and a Ryan Theriot groundout plated one run and Lance Berkman tied the game at 9-9 with a 2-out RBI single.

After some confusion in which Ranger's manager Ron Washington looked uncertain about who he wanted to send to the plate in the top of the 11th, the Rangers were really unable to do anything with a Mike Napoli single and finished off the inning pretty quietly.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, the Cardinals led off with Wildwood, Missouri's Lafayette HS graduate David Freese.

The 3rd baseman who grew up a Cardinals fan in the St Louis area helped propel his team to a Game 7 in the world series in the most dramatic manner possible, giving St Louis the 10-9 win over a reeling Texas [I get the feeling all those Freese-related puns have been done to death, and I figured I might as well give it a rest after the NLCS- NANESB!].

Freese's late-inning heroics set up one final game for the 2011 season and the first Game 7 in nearly 9 years. Freese went 2-5 with 3 RBI including the game-winning homer while Lance Berkman went 3-5 with 3 RBI on the evening. Jake Westbrook, the 6th pitcher to take to the mound for St. Louis Thursday night, was the winner while Neftali Feliz, Darren Oliver and Scott Feldman each had an opportunity to seal the win for Texas coming out of the bullpen, only to watch the Cards claw back each time. Feldman was charged with the blown save and Mark Lowe was hung with the loss.

Tomorrow night's game is set to get under way from St Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET and will be televised on FOX. Chris Carpenter is set to get the start against the Rangers Matt Harrison. It'll be interesting to see if Texas can bounce back from what must feel like a crushing loss on Thursday night.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Boston Herald is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays may be getting ready to aggressively go after Red Sox DH David Ortiz this offseason. The 36 year old slugger is a free agent and has been with the club since 2003, including two big postseasons that saw the Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007.

NHL: Damn it, damn it, damn it! I understood that there might be the risk of a Stanley Cup 'hangover', but why does it seem as though things have been going downhill ever since the banner raising ceremony?

And the damndest thing is, the Bruins are getting beaten by the few teams out there with worse records than them.

The Montreal Canadiens managed to hang on for a 2-1 win against the Bruins at the Garden Thursday night after the Bruins managed to get on the board thanks to a Tomas Plekanec own-goal against Carey Price.

The Habs would then get two unanswered goals (this time against the Boston goalie, Tim Thomas) including another Plekanec tally for the 2-1 final. Thomas turned aside 33 of 35 shots faced in the loss while Price stopped 29 of 30 shots faced (29 of them coming from Bruins players).

The Bruins will travel to Montreal (where they are no doubt ready to call the Sûreté du Québec on Zdeno Chara) on Saturday night with the game being broadcast on CBC beginning at 7:00 PM ET.

NFL: Oh come on now. This is getting a touch ridiculous.


New England Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski issued a statement saying that he didn't intend to hurt the team's reputation when he had his picture taken with porn starlet Bibi Jones. Gronkowski reportedly made the statement after meeting in private with owner Robert Kraft.

Earlier this week, Jones posted two photos of herself with Gronkowski on her twitter account. She was wearing the #87 jersey in both photos while Rob Gronkowski was shirtless in one of them. The pictures were reportedly taken during the bye week.

I'm not sure what the big deal is, to be honest. I mean, Gronkowski is young and single, and as long as it doesn't detract from his on-field performance, I don't really see the problem with having his picture taken with a porn starlet. According to Jones, nothing happened (much to her dismay) between her and Gronkowski.

Jones also stated in a radio interview that an unnamed MLB agent used her to entice potential free agents to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. However, she insists she wasn't paid for meeting with the agent's potential clients in Phoenix area bars, but served as 'arm candy' pro-bono due to her affinity for athletes and baseball being her favorite sport.

Teams Taking Note Of CJ Wilson's Struggles

I know DP touched on this the other day, but I was reading reading an article earlier today, and couldn't help myself.

Wilson is winless in five postseason starts with a 6.08 ERA, that has lead many team to be very hesitant in how much they are going to offer him. There is no question he is still the #1 pitcher on the market (not including CC), but he really need to come out that last start and blow the doors off the Cardinals.

The Yankees are the obvious team that will have a lot of interest, and before the playoffs started it sounded as if they would be driving up the cost for Wilson. Now, Buster Olney explains why teams are starting to back off...

"I know of at least three teams that will tone down their interest in the lefthander in large part because of what they have seen this October -- the issues of fastball command. 'That doesn't get better as a pitcher gets older,' said one scout. 'It gets worse.'"

To add to that Wilson isn't as young as a lot of people think he is. He will be 31 next year (basically the same age as Beckett), and not that that's old or anything, but you don't want to get caught in a dog fight for this guy and shell out a 6 year deal.

Wilson will make his money, but I don't think the deal with be for as much or as long as we thought going into the postseason. If I was to venture a guess I would say he ends up stay with the Rangers.

Sports Chowdah Update- Napoli Ever After, Texas 1 Win Away From Word Series; Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Lansings;

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

WORLD SERIES: Well damn- it looks like I owe you not one, not two but three World Series updated.

Saturday night's game brought the World Series to Arlington, TX for the second time in two seasons. It was a pretty one-sided blowout with the 16-7 Cardinals win being more reminiscent of the final for a Cowboys-Rams game. However, the contest was noteworthy in that Cards 1st baseman Albert Pujols put himself in some very distinguished company (i.e. Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson) by becoming the third ever player to belt 3 home runs in a World Series game. Pujols went 5-6 with 6 RBI on the night in the St Louis rout.

The following night, however, Rangers starter Derek Holland would go 8 and ⅓ shutout innings allowing just two hits (both of them off of Lance Berkman who was in the DH role) while a 1st inning RBI double from Josh Hamilton would be all the run support Holland needed- altho' he would get more insurance in the form of a 3-run Mike Napoli blast off of Cards reliever Mitchell Boggs in the bottom of the 6th. Texas would go on to win by the 4-0 final on Sunday.

For Game 5 on Monday night, the Cards would get out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to a Yadier Molina RBI single and Skip Schumaker groundout with a runner on 3rd.

Texas would cut the lead in half with a solo homer from 1B Mitch Moreland and another one from that 3B Adrian Beltre hit from his knees off starter Chris Carpenter to knot the game at 2-2. Then, in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded and 1 out, C Mike Napoli scalded a double to deep center field where it bounced off the wall and drove in two more runs for Texas.

Neftali Feliz would then come on in the top of the 9th and after the leadoff batter, got Pujols to stroke out and cut down Allen Craig as he attempted to steal 2nd base. Matt Holliday was walked and Lance Berkman struck out to end the game and give Texas the 3-2 World Series lead.

The World Series heads back to St Louis on Wednesday night, although the forecast calls for extended rain showers throughout the day, so this must-win game for the Cardinals might be postponed for another day.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Philadelphia Phillies have declined to pick up the 2012 options on starter Roy Oswalt and closer Brad Lidge. Both pitchers are coming off of an injury plagued 2011 season. Although both are free agents, Phillies brass hasn't ruled out either one of them returning under a new, renegotiated contract.

RED SOX: Boston GM Ben Cherington announced that starter John Lackey will miss the 2012 season after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his elbow. Lackey was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA this season- the second year into his 5 year, $85 million contract.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Toronto Blue Jays issued a statement in which they announced they "would not grant permission for lateral moves", a reversal of the previous policy where the organization permitted any employee from talking to any organization about any job.

The announcement came amid speculation that manager John Farrell was being sought after by the Red Sox as a replacement for Terry Francona. Farrell spent four years as Boston's pitching coach and led the Blue Jays to an 81-81 record his first season as Toronto manager.

CHICAGO CUBS: Theo Epstein was officially introduced by the Cubs as their newest president of Baseball Operations on Tuesday.



NCAA FOOTBALL: Man oh man....what is it with Michigan State and these dramatic finishes?

With about 4 seconds to go in regulation against the #4 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan State Spartans QB Kirk Cousins heaved a Hail Mary Pass from mid field and after caroming off the facemask of Spartans WR BJ Cunningham found its way into the arms of Spartans WR Keith Nichol, who managed to break the plane of the goal line for the 37-31 Spartans win.

The win vaults the Spartans from #15 to #9 in the AP Top 25 poll.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Meanwhile, Boston College's futile quest for a win against a FBS opponent continued after falling 14-30 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Saturday. The BC Eagles will next face Maryland at College Park, MD at 3:00 PM ET.

UMass, whis is the only team the Eagles have managed to beat this season, was defeated by the UNH Wildcats by a 27-71 final in the Colonial Clash at Gilette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma on Saturday. This could be a preview of 'home' games once the UMass Minutemen join the MAC starting in 2012.

UConnhad the weekend off, but plays Wednesday night against Pitt at 8 PM ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.

NBA: Speaking of UMass, Basketball hall of famer and UMass alumni Julius Erving is putting up his championship rings and MVP trophies up for auction after being sued for $200,000 by a Georgia bank.

Erving purchased an Atlanta-area golf course in 2006 and moved to the area a few years later. Using a Gwinnett county home as collateral, Erving secured a $1 million loan from Georgia Primary Bank in 2009. In 2010, the line of credit was reduced to $750,000 and the maturity date was extended to July 24th. However, the bank is suing Erving over the outstanding balance.

Among the items up for auction include his 1974 and 1976 championship ring from the ABA as well as a 1983 championship ring with the Philadelphia 76ers and 1980-81 NBA MVP trophy.

NHL: And just as quickly as Boston's offense showed up against Toronto, it seemed to abandon them as they hosted the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Coming off a 4-3 shootout win against New Jersey, the Bruins hosted Joe Thornton for career game #1001, but it was Essex, MA native and former BC Eagle Benn Ferriero that would put the Sharks up on top after Tyler Seguin had managed to knot the contest up at 2-2 in the 3rd.

Ferriero managed to bury a rebound past Thomas late in the 3rd to make it a 3-2 contest before a Patrick Marleau empty-netter in the final minute would ice the 4-2 win for San Jose.

Interestingly, while Thornton was playing career game #1000 in New Jersey, Ferriero was being called up from the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL for his NHL debut.

To mark the occasion of Thornton's return, the Bruins played a video tribute at the garden in the 1st period congratulating the San Jose center on the career milestone.

4 Rangers, 2 St. Louis

Both the Angels and Blue Jays are dumb for letting Mike Napoli go. Napoli's hit a go ahead 2 run double off of Marc Rzepczynski in the 8th inning to put the score at 4-2 and that's where it stayed.

Bob mentioned yesterday that CJ Wilson needed to step up big time, and he didn't. Sure he didn't let up more than 2 runs, but he constantly had the Rangers in danger. He went 5.1 innings let up 4 hits and walked 5. The Rangers induced a ton of double plays and played unbelievable defense. I wonder how much money his playoff performance has cost him. I bet the max contract he gets will be 85 million dollars.

Chris Carpeter pitched a gem, going 7 letting up 2 runs and scoring 4. Too bad they couldn't hold the lead.

George Bush is 1 win away from a World Series victory.

CJ Wilson Needs To Pull A Derek Holland

DP already talked about what Derek Holland did last night... dominate. He turned around his postseason performances in one night. Before last night he had an ERA of over 8 in the series before, and yet was able to come out and change this season, and maybe his entire career.

Now comes CJ Wilson. He needs to do the same. If the Rangers win this I guarantee they win this series, but it goes even beyond that for Wilson. Wilson is a free agent after this season and is in line to be the #1 free agent SP. Nothing will change that (unless CC bolts NY), but I do feel there are millions of dollars on the line tonight. Wilson has an ERA over 7 so far this playoffs. He has basically choked. Whether he is getting rocked, or walking a bunch of guys like he did last time out he just isn't acting like an ace. Yet, if he pulls a Holland tonight all of that goes away. Suddenly, he is a big time pitcher.

So tonight for Wilson, there is a chance to put his team within 1 win of a World Series, make millions more money next season, and define his career. Holland was up for it, are you Mr. Wilson?

Rangers Tie Up Series

Derek Holland pitched masterfully last night as the Rangers tied the series at 2 and won the game 4-0. Holland pitched 8.1 inning with no runs and 7 ks and something the Rangers needed because he saved their bullpen.

The Rangers offense has a lot of weapons and tonight Mike Napoli struck big with his 2nd homerun of the postseason with driving in 3. Josh Hamilton also had a hit and an RBI. The Rangers offense is so scary and with pitchers like Jake Westbrook or Kyle Lohse coming up they should be licking their chops.

Great game.

Quicke Sports Chowdah Update For October 21st- Elvis Hasn't Left the Building Yet- Series Heads Back to Texas Tied 1-1; B's Offense Blows Leafs Away

Dilip Vishwanat- Getty Images

WORLD SERIES- And just like that, the Texas Rangers are back in this thing.

Two games into the 2010 World Series, I'm pleased to report there have been no blowouts so far. In Game one, the Cardinals broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI single from pinch hitter Allen Craig in the bottom of the 6th- and that would be the final on Wednesday night.

Thursday was a slightly different story as the Cards Jaime Garcia went 7 shutout innings, striking out 7 while giving up all of three hits. Colby Lewis went 6 and ⅔ innings for the Rangers, but once again, Allen Craig got the Cards on the board in a pinch-hit situation- this time in the bottom of the 7th- to give the Cards the 1-0 lead. The way Garcia and the Cards bullpen was keeping the Rangers bats quiet, it looked like that lone tally would be enough.

However, Ian Kinsler would lead off the Rangers half of the inning with a single off Jason Motte. Then, in a move that was almost as predictable as Dave Roberts stealing 2nd off of Mariano Rivera in the top of the 9th of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, Ian Kinsler took off for second and slid in barely ahead of a throw from catcher Yadier Molina and tag by Rafael Furcal.

Elvis Andrus the followed that up with a single, that put Kinsler on 3rd and Andrus reached on 2nd thanks to a Pujols botching a cutoff throw from right field.

The Texas bats had been quiet for most of the World Series so far, but with runners on second and third with nobody out, outfielder Josh Hamilton stepped into the batter's box. Hamilton gave it a ride to right field for a long flyout, but deep enough to plate Kinsler to tie the game and advance Andrus to 3rd base. Next up in the batter's box was 1B Michael Young, who would also fly out to deep right, but still deep enough for Andrus to make it home and put Texas up by 2-1. Adrian Beltre would go onto ground out to end the inning.

Nefatli Feliz would take the mound in the bottom of the 9th and allow a leadoff walk to Yadier Molina before getting the next three batters out for the 2-1 win. So Texas rallies to bring the World Series back to Arlington tied 1-1 not because of the big bats of Hamilton or Cruz, but thanks to aggressive baserunning and small ball.

Game 3 will be played Saturday night in Arlington, TX with first pitch scheduled for 8:05 PM ET. Kyle Lohse (14-8; 3.39 ERA in the regular season) gets the start for the Cards while Matt Harrison (sporting eerily similar regular season stats of 14-9 with a 3.39 ERA) takes to the bump for the Rangers. The game will be televised on FOX.

RED SOX: Not too surprisingly, both players and front office personnel from the Red Sox deny the rumors of players drinking beer, playing video games and eating fried chicken in the clubhouse between innings during games. DH David Ortiz made some noise about joining the Yankees as a free agent, but seemed to walk back those comments in the last few days and expressed a preference for staying with Boston.

On Friday, the Oakalnd A's announced that former Red Sox pitching coach Curt Young was leaving Boston to join manager Bob Melvin.

Meanwhile, a deal that would see Epstein head off to the Cubs is still considered likely, but the proceedings have slowed down noticeably this week.

Elsa/Getty Images

BOSTON BRUINS: At long last, the Bruins offense was showing some signs of life, handing the Toronto Maple Leafs their first regulation loss of the season.

The Leafs had gotten off to a scalding 4-0-1 start on the regular season heading into Thursday night's game at the Garden. Meanwhile, this would be the Bruins first divisional matchup of the season after hosting the Carolina Hurricanes in a 4-1 loss on Tuesday.

Toronto would draw first blood with a Dave Steckel tally at the 7:29 mark in the first period, but that would be just about it for the Leafs. The Bruins would get two separate power play goals starting with Nathan Horton's game tying goal three minutes later (with assists from Chara and Ference) before Zdeno Chara's power play goal at the 16:05 mark (with assists from Andrew Ference and Tyler Seguin).

With just under 3 minutes to go in the 1st, Chris Kelly would put Boston up by a 3-1 score on what would turn out to be the game winner. After a scoreless 2nd period, the Bruins got plenty of insurance thanks to goals from Lucic, Bergeron and Seguin (all even-strength) before Toronto notched their second goal of the evening.

Boston moves to a game under .500 with this dramatic 6-2 win over the previously surging Leafs, making them undefeated (1-0) in matchups against teams in the Northeastern Division.

The 3-4-0 Bruins will next host a homecoming of sorts for Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks (1-3-0) at the Garden on Saturday at 7PM ET. The game will be televised on NESN.

Rangers Tie Up Series

I don't know how people could not be watching this World Series figuring last nights game was unbelievable. The Rangers rallied in the 9th inning to tie the series up at one with the final score being 2-1.

Before that it was a pitching duel between the Rangers Colby Lewis and St. Louis' Jaime Garcia, Lewis went 6.2 innings letting up 1 run and striking out 4, while his counterpoint Garcia was dominant, going 7 letting up 3 hits and striking out 7.

The real story though was the defense, Elvis Andrus put on a clinic out their and was terrific especially on a diving, glove flip throw in the 5th. If Texas didn't have that great defensive play, they would be easily down 2-0.

The Rangers bats were silent until the 9th when they got to the unhittable Jason Motte. Motte allowed consecutive singles to open the ninth inning, and sacrifice flies by Josh Hamilton and Michael Young lifted the Rangers to a 2-1 victory Thursday night.

The Rangers Will Play The Cardinals In The World Series

Man this is going to be boring. I guess I'm rooting for the Rangers because I will root for the AL and I like Mike Napoli, Michael Young, Nelson Cruz and Ian Kinsler. But I am pissed about the Cardinals being in the World Series. They are my second most hated team, I have Tony La Russa, I hate Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday.

Here is a bold claim, the Rangers will win the series and sweep them. Their bats are too devastating and I have no faith in the Cardinals pitching staff. The Pitching for the Rangers is good enough to keep the Rangers in the game.

Their is no way Ron Washington and the Rangers are going to walk away with the series.

Detroit Has A Chance? Nah...

7 Tigers, 5 Rangers
I know these playoffs ratings have been horrible but great baseball is being played. This series has been pretty awesome and last night was the same thing. Jim Leyand was in the hole in the beginning of the game as he announced Joquin Benoit and Jose Valverde will not be available because he is over using them, however, he did have Justin Verlander and when you have that, it's never a bad thing. It's funny Verlander has yet to have a game that has WOWed me. Last night he went 7.1 let up 4 runs and Kd 8. I want to see a 9 inning game with 15 Ks god dammit. But the real hero of the game is Delmon Young, who wasn't even going to be on the ALCS roster due to an oblique injury. Delmon hit 2 HRs and 3 rbis and knocked CJ Wilson around. Speaking of CJ Wilson, why does everybody want him? He has sucked these entire playoffs and looks like a deer in headlights every time he wants to pitch. But the Captain wants him so I guess that makes it a great signing. (The Captain also loved the Lackey deal when it happened too). Nelson Cruz made it interesting by hitting his 5th home run in the 8th, but it was too little too late.

The series is at 3-2

Brewers beat St. Louis 4-2.
Series is at 2 all.

It was actually cool to see throwback Randy Wolf come in and throw 7 semi dominant innings. After letting up a homerun by Allen Craig in the 3rd he was really good. I want the Brewers to take this. I despise the Cardinals for some reason.

Well The Tigers Are Fucked

7 Texas, 3 Detroit


Every team I have rooted for in the playoffs minus the Yankees have lost, so that probably means a gay team like St. Louis is probably going to win the World Series.

I wanted the Tigers to win because I like Verlander, Migueal Cabrera and I like how Jim Leyland smokes 7 packs of cigarettes a day. But that Texas offense is just really, really good.

It's terrifying to face Ian Kinsler, Elvis Andrus, Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Adrian Beltre, Mike Napoli and Nelson Cruz. Napoli may have been the best offensive player in the 2nd half and been playing like a man possessed, Adrian Beltre has been bombing the ball and no one is an easy out.

Leyland fucked up last night in the 11th when he intentionally walked Adrian Beltre to get to Mike Napoli who immediately knocked in a run, then obviously Nelson Cruz did the real damage right after.

So whatever, fuck you Texas, you are going to get it bad next week when I root for you after you rock Verlander tonight.

P.S. What kind of piss poor effort was that by Miguel Cabrera trying to run over Mike Napoli? Honestly, awful.

Oh yea, the Cardinals won 4-3... gay.

Just Win, Baby! Sports Chowdah Update- Raiders Owner Al Davis Deat at 81; No Frequent Flier Miles For Jets @ Foxboro; Avs Varlamov Stifles B's

NFL- Oakland Raiders owner and former AFL commissioner Al Davis passed away at the age of 82 on Saturday. Born in Brockton, MA and growing up in Brooklyn, Davis would graduate Syracuse and start his coaching career with Adelphi college and the US Army. In 1962, he was hired as the head coach for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League, leading them to their first ever winning season in 1963 with a record of 10-4.

Davis was also briefly the AFL commissioner in 1966 and was against the proposed merger of the AFL and NFL. After stepping down as commissioner a few months later, Davis would return to the Raiders and purchase a 10% stake in the organization, gradually increasing his holdings over the next few seasons until he head near-total control of the organization.

In 1982, he moved the Raiders from Oakland to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving the team back to Oakland in 1995 after a dispute with Los Angeles over expansion at the Coliseum. The city of Oakland spent nearly $200 million in refurbishing the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum to accommodate the move.

The Raiders have seen only limited success since moving back to the Bay area, with their last playoff (and Super Bowl) appearance taking place in 2002 and a seemingly non-stop coaching carousel taking place each season.

While the team is expected to stay in Davis' family, there are rumors circulating that his heirs would be more receptive to a possible return to L.A.


PATRIOTS: Under Rex Ryan, there seems to be this pattern of the Jets talking all sorts of shit in the week leading up to a game against the Pats and then falling flat on their face. The New York tabloids and ESPN seem to love it, but the Patriots and their fans find it about as intimidating and endearing as a shrill, yippy little chihuahua circling and barking.



More often than not, I DO enjoy what comes afterwards. Of course, before the most recent Jets-Patriots game, its worth noting that the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins paid a visit to Gilette Stadium with the coveted trophy for a pregame ceremony (as well as the team posing with owner Robert Kraft and the three Vince Lombardi trophies as well as Lord Stanley's Cup).

Once it got underway, Sunday afternoon's game saw the New York Jets put up only 255 yards against the New England defense and Tom Brady going 24 for 33 with 321 yards and a TD as well as a pick. Antonio Cromartie ran back the Brady INT for about 40 yards to finish up the first half of the game. New England headed in with a 10-7 lead (they were poised for more until Cromartie's pick) and after getting a TD on their opening drive of the 2nd half, the Pats made it a 17-7 game, but the Jets came right back and made it a 17-14 game after Mark Sanchez completed to WR Jeremy Kerley.

However, that would be as close as the Jets would get as a 4 minute Patriots drive taht started on their own 23 was capped by a short Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run late in the 3rd. The law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 27 rushes for 136 yards and 2 TDs while the team donned the old-school red jerseys and Patriot Pat helmets.

No Vince Wilfork INTs run back this week, but we're not even halfway through the season and considering he already has two more than his career total so far, it's probably best if the big guy paces himself.

Next week will see the 2-2 Dallas Cowboys in Foxboro with a 4:15 ET kickoff. The Cowboys are coming off their bye week and this weekend's game will be televised on FOX.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: Make way for another Gronkowski! The Patriots signed TE Rob Gronkowski's older brother Dan to play tight end. Dan saw action in 12 games last season with the Denver Broncos.

MLB: The two NLDS game Fives were decided by a pretty close margin heading into last weekend. In Milwaukee, Brewers OF Nyjer Morgan's 10th inning walkoff RBI single sent the Diamondbacks packing while in Philadelphia, Chris Carpenter sent the National League team with the best record home thanks to a complete game 3-hit shutout of Philadelphia, setting up an all-midwest NLCS.

The Brewers came from behind to win Game 1 on Sunday, winning by a 9-6 final after a huge 6-run 5th inning. However, Monday night's game was all St. Louis with the Cards winning by a lopsided 12-3 final.

Game 3 is set to take place on Wednesday in St. Louis with a first pitch at 8:05 ET on TBS. The Cards' Chris Carpenter is set to go up against the Brew Crew's Yovani Gallardo.

Over in the ALCS, the Texas Rangers seemed to have little trouble handling the Detroit Tigers in Arlington. Game 1 was pretty close, with Detroit clawing their way back prior to a rain delay with the bases loaded, but the Rangers were able to get out of the jam and hang on to win by a 3-2 final.

The series headed to Detroit with the Tigers down 0-2, losing in dramatic fashion thanks to a Nelson Cruz walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 11th- the first ever walkoff grand slam in postseason history.

However, the home cookin' at Comerica park seemed to be working for the Tigers on Tuesday night. In his first start since sending the Yankees packing in Game 5 of the ALDS in the Bronx, Tigers starter Doug Fister would go 7 ⅓ innings, giving up 7 hits and two earned runs. Victor Martinez would get the scoring started for Detroit with a solo homer to tie the game at 1-1 before Miguel Cabrera, Jhonny Peralta and Austin Jackson would go on to give Fister additional run support in the Tigers 5-2 win on Tuesday night.

Texas still leads the ALCS two games to one, with game 4 set to get underway at 4:19 PM ET. Rick Porcello is slated to start against the Ranger's Matt Harrison with the game to be televised on FOX TV.

RED SOX: Less than two weeks after the departure of manager Terry Francona, the Associated Press is reporting that Red Sox GM Theo Epstein will be leaving Boston to become President of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs in the next 48 hours.


NHL: After winning their first game of the season against Tampa Bay over the weekend, the Bruins gave Tim Thomas the day off as the defending Stanley Cup champions hosted the Colorado Avalanche.

Tukka Rask showed little signs of rust from the offseason in Monday afternoon's game, but Milan Hejduk buried one past Rask in the 3rd to give Colorado a 1-0 lead while Avs netminder Seymon Varlamov stopped all 30 shots he faced to preserve the lead and the Avalanche win.

The Bruins will hit the road on Wednesday to take on the Carolina Hurricanes. The game will be televised on Versus and gets underway at 7:30 PM ET. The Bruins will reportedly be playing without C David Krejci, who injured his leg in practise on Tuesday afternoon.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The team announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement with C Rich Peverly on a 3 year extension of his contract. Financial terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.



ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: After a 15 year hiatus, NHL hockey has returned to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The new-look Jets started off their 2011-2012 season at Winnipeg's MTS Centre on Sunday with a 'sloppy' 5-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. The former Atlanta Thrashers are idle until Thursday when they travel to Chicago to take on the Blackhawks.

NBA: In the midst of a protracted labor dispute between players and owners, League Commissioner David Stern has cancelled all preseason games and the first two weeks of the regular season.

The impasse is prompting a number or players to entertain offers from overseas clubs, the most notable of which is reportedly the owner of Italian club Virtus Bologna aggressivley looking to sign NBA stars Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginobli.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Looks like my dire-but-realistic predictions regarding Boston College and UConn's respective games against to 25 opponents came true over the weekend. The BC Eagles managed to avoid a shutout, but were downed by the Clemson Tigers by a 36-14 final while in Morgantown, WV, the Mountaineers downed UConn by a 43-16 final on Saturday.

The 2-4 Huskies will next host the University of South Florida on Saturday afternoon at East Hartford while Boston College (mercifully) has a bye this weekend, but will resume in Blackburg against #19 Virginia Tech (currently 5-1) on October 22nd. Between now and then, the Hokies have a game against the 4-1 Wake Forest Demon Deacons, who are undefeated (3-0) against ACC opponents this season.

NCAA HOCKEY: Unlike the struggling football team, the Boston College men's hockey team is off to a promising start after the previous weekend's Break the Ice tournament in Grand Forks, ND. The BC Eagles notched a 5-2 win over the Michigan State Spartans and capped the tournament with a 6-2 win over #3 North Dakota.

On Friday, the BC Eagles will host Denver before travelling to the Granite State to take on the UNH Wildcats on Saturday.

MLB Playoff Updates

7 Rangers, 3 Tigers
You have to give it to Derek Holland. He had a real bad game, but he is trying his hardest with that mustache. It's a dirty disgusting mustache, however, he's going all in with it. Last night he didn't have the best game and only lasted a couple of innings but Ron Washington managed the bullpen beautifully (something Francona could have never done) and was able to pull it out. It went into extra innings and was capped off by a Nelson Cruz grandslam.

The Rangers now have a 2-0 lead on the Tigers.

12 St. Louis, 3 Milwaukee

I'm pretty sick of St. Louis, I was happy that they knocked off the Phillies, but there is nothing likable about this team. I'm not a Pujols guy, not a Tony La Russa guy and just not a Cardinals guy. I hope the Brewers go into Beast Mode and take this seires over as it is now 1-1. I'm not even going to talk about last nights game because I hate them so much.

MLB Playoff Updates

Texas beats the Rays in the series 3-1.

Maybe the Rays weren't as good as we thought they were or maybe Texas was a lot better than we assumed. The Rays were on the ropes for the last couple of months of the season and they couldn't continue their living on the edge streak. Former Red Sox player Adrian Beltre belted 3 solo home runs last night, it's a shame that we couldn't sign him last year because we had no space to put him. Matt Harrison was able to shut down the Rays to get the win in the final game. Harrison and Colby Lewis really did a great job in the back end of that rotation for the Rangers.

Yankees tie up the series 2-2 with the Tigers

AJ Burnett may have not been the best, but he did his job. Burnett went 5.2 innings allowing 1 run wih 4 bb and 3 ks. The game could have got ugly in the 1st when the bases were loaded and Don Kelly hit what should have been a double or triple but Curtis Granderson made a leaping catch ending the threat. For the Yankees Robinson Cano drove in 2 runs and A Rod got off his drought to drive in one himself.

Phillies have a 2-1 lead over St. Louis

Not impressed with the Phillies so far, but Cole Hammels came up big last night going 6 and striking out 8. Phillies should take care of business today with Roy Oswalt on the bump.

The Brewers will eventually win this series no reason to talk about it.

So Who You Rooting For Now?

So, as you may have heard the Red Sox will not be in the postseason this year, so who are you rooting for to win it all. Personally, I am going with the Rangers. Derek Holland is one of my favorite players (#2 starter), I like Kinsler, Beltre, Young, Hamilton, and I even like David Murphy. By the way, Murphy would've looked damn good in RF this year for the Sox. Who did we trade him for again? Oh yea, Gagne another homerun by Theo.

So, who you got and why?